There are rumors that Linux Mint is surpassing Ubuntu to become the most popular Linux distro around, that's why I had to take a look at LinuxMint 12 "Lisa" - the newest version of Linux Mint. And after few hours testing Linux Mint 12 I have to admit that Linux Mint is way better than Ubuntu. The default theme of Linux Mint is always beautiful and I really like Gnome3, more intuitive and easier to customize than Unity. And since I've fallen in love with xmonad, I decided to try xmonad in Linux Mint to get the best of the two worlds. And the result is really nice, here are some desktop screenshots of Linux Mint using xmonad as the window manager.

As you can see in the images, when combining xmonad with Gnome3 of Linux Mint, you will have a Gnome3 desktop using xmonad as the window manager. The tiled windows fit really nice between the 2 panels and it's totally clickable when using xmonad with Gnome3. You can switch between workspaces in Xmonad either by using the keybindings or by clicking on the bottom panel. You also dont need to use dmenu or other launchers since you already have the Linux Mint menu on the top panel.

If you're using the new Linux Mint and want to try xmonad, here is how:

Step 1: Installing xmonad.

Just run

sudo apt-get install xmonad

Step 2: Creating the xmonad session.

First, you need to add the xmonad session to gnome session, the file you need to create is /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/xmonad.session. Just open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo gedit usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/xmonad.session

After you enter the password, a gedit window will open, just copy-paste the following lines into it then save and quit: